Designing alternate reality games

Abstract

An Alternate Reality Game (ARG) is a form of transmedia storytelling, with narrative elements that are distributed across multiple communications platforms, ranging from print materials to mobile devices. ARGs also represent a new genre of transmedia practice where players collaboratively hunt for clues, make sense of disparate information, and solve puzzles to advance an ever-evolving storyline. While players participate in an ARG using everyday communications tools, such as phones and web sites, the interaction design challenges are not an "everyday" process. Designers must create and connect story bits across multiple media (video, audio, text) and multiple platforms (phones, computers, physical spaces). Further, they must engage and connect with players of varying skill levels. Few studies have explored the design process of education-based ARGs, or their relationship to participatory design. This research systematically investigates the design and play of ARGs as participatory design spaces and vehicles for scaffolding information literacy practices.

Collective Intelligence or Group Think?

“…As players engage in reflection on their own moves and the moves of others, they are experiencing a form of learning through individual and collective storytelling and listening [5]. The quality of this learning depends on the level and quality of the participatory opportunities offered by the game narrative, and the extent to which players engage with the narrative and each other [12].…”

“…ARGs present a specific interpretation of collective intelligence: collaborative and creative environments that bring people together to solve real-world problems [e.g., 4,5]. Drawing on the work of Pierre Levy, Jane McGonigal, one of the prominent advocates of ARGs, argues that members of a collective intelligence would work with the collected facts and viewpoints to actively author, discover and invent new, computer-fueled ways of thinking, strategizing, and coordinating [18,15,17].…”